Reverend Traci Blackmon (Executive Minister of Justice, UCC) tells a story about an historic, white Methodist church whose members decided to welcome people of African descent. This happened around 1850. We can guess that such a decision felt progressive for its time, and in keeping with the Christian imperative that we recognize one another as children of God.

However, once the church doors were opened to all, the building became quite crowded. The congregation decided to build a balcony to hold the overflow. Can you imagine what happened next?

It seems church members were not as open to mingling with black folk as their discussions had indicated. They voted for it in theory, but they felt discomforted by the reality. So, week after week, the old church members sat stubbornly, cheek to jowl, in the downstairs pews where they had always been.

The black members, seeing lots of seats available upstairs in the balcony, began to sit up there. Soon the church reflected the racial divide members had sought to erase – whites downstairs in their assumed spot of tradition and privilege, blacks segregated to the upstairs.

It’s a story for our times. Many people today are afraid of diversity. Some even grow angry at the very mention of the word. They are convinced that diversity is to blame for what they see as diminished opportunities for whites.  Working to include all people in our democratic society is interpreted as taking away from whites their traditional access to jobs, education and other critical components of the pursuit of happiness.

When calls for diversity and social justice become widespread, people who are intolerant of our differences tend to abandon their belief in democracy in favor of authoritarian rule (Steven V. Miller of Clemson, and Nicholas T. Davis of Texas A & M: “White Outgroup Intolerance and Declining Support for American Democracy”). In America, for example, intolerance has a high correlation with support for white supremacy. That explains some of the surge in support for Trump during his campaign for the presidency.

The Miller and Davis study showed that white people who are intolerant of diversity are often afraid that democracy is benefiting those who are marginalized (e.g., immigrants, Native Americans, Black people, Muslims, the LGBTQ community). In other words, some white people are okay with this democracy thing only as long as it means everyone else is marginalized. They like democracy as an ideal, but in reality? Not so much. Now that voices from the margins are becoming more noticeable, louder, more diversified, more frequently in the news and more urgent, intolerant white people are becoming more and more afraid.

One place that fear has appeared is among far-right Christian evangelicals. Their Bibles seem to be different from everyone else’s. They quote the Bible as if it is a manifesto against the poor and needy in our society, against non-binary, non-heterosexual populations, against immigrants and against anyone who disobeys or protests someone in a government position. They are cherry-picking biblical verses as their source of authoritarian rule to replace the messiness of a democratic society.

Another place the fear of democracy shows up is in the rising number of phone calls to police. Two black men standing inside a Starbucks waiting for a friend are questioned by police and taken into custody after a call from the barista. Or a black man entering his own home is being rushed by police who got a call that a burglar was breaking in. Or police are called on black people having a picnic at a park. Or taking a nap in a dorm lounge. Or swimming in the pool.

Behind every call that a black person is doing something nearby is a scared white person who is afraid of democracy. Behind every bully who starts ripping into a non-white passenger on a subway or a non-white family in a restaurant, is a white person who is afraid of democracy, someone who is finally getting a glimmer of what democracy means and is finding the idea frightening.

It’s now being called “the Trump effect.” One thing Trump can deliver is authoritarian rule, basing it on fear of “the other.” Make America Great Again is a slogan for stopping all activities related to inclusion and diversity. It promotes making a big U-turn back to a society where it is acceptable to be selective about who has rights and who is privileged. Trump and his appointees behave as if the last 70 years of social progress did not happen.

Fear is a terrible thing. We all know the sickening, intense physical strain that fear induces in our bodies. If it were an animal – an alligator suddenly appearing in our path, a swarm of bees chasing us – the physical stress would end when the incident ended. But when we fear something intangible, something like the unending forms of diversity that have emerged from the shadows over the past few years, fear can be a constant source of stress. In some people, it is as debilitating as a phobia.

The rest of us are left with finding ways to help the fearful rise above their fear of democracy.